Nice Dress Code

The dress code is fairly casual, but a jacket and tie are preferred in the more exclusive restaurants. At business meetings both men and women should wear suits.

Greeting Someone in Nice

Shaking hands is the standard greeting. Business appointments should be pre-arranged and business cards are often used.

Nice Business Hours and Banking

Both government and commercial offices operate between 09:00 and 17:00. Generally, banks in France are open weekdays, from 09:30 to 16:30 (the Banque de France is an exception and closes at 15:30), and some banks are also open on Saturday. Most take a one-hour, or even a 90-minute, lunch break, except for those in Paris. Banks at airports and main train stations open as early as 06:30 and close as late as 22:30.

Nice Smoking

Smoking, although more widely accepted in France than in many English-speaking countries, has recently become an issue. Expect to find no-smoking signs in many public places, although most cafés and restaurants will allow smoking in at least part of their premises. The non-smoker may find this difficult, as so many people do smoke. If this is so, their only recourse is to make their feelings known!